


Aura

by StrangeArc (Phoenix_crysg1)



Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_crysg1/pseuds/StrangeArc
Summary: Completely pointless warm fuzzy scene of Stephen teaching Tony about aura and the power of touch.  Nothing graphic, just cute.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 12
Kudos: 73





	Aura

Laying on his side having trouble sleeping Tony did his best not to toss and turn in fear that he would wake Stephen. An extremely light sleeper Stephen could be woken by a pin dropping across the room or sometimes even just from a cloud passing over the moon and shading the round window that adorned the Sanctum ceiling. Proving he was already awake despite the late hour Stephen tugged gently on the sheet they shared to give Tony warning that he was about to touch him. When Tony’s back was turned to him he was always cautious to not just reach out and touch him knowing that it might startle him. 

Tony shrugged the sheet off his shoulder in an open invitation for Stephen to try and sooth him to sleep. Stephen ran his hand over Tony’s exposed skin in what seemed like a deliberate pattern. It didn’t take long for the contact to melt away the agitation that had been keeping Tony awake. Taking a deep breath Tony found himself starting to easily drift off to sleep before he suddenly caught himself. 

“Hey,” Tony grumbled in irritation “I thought we had an agreement.”

“An agreement?” Stephen repeated confused. 

“Unless given explicit consent I don’t use technology on you and you don’t use magic on me.” 

“I’m not using magic on you.” 

Tony rolled over onto his back and turned his head to look at Stephen incredulously. Stephen smiled innocently and held up his shaky hands as if that proved he wasn’t casting any spells.

“I know you have sleep spells.” 

“I would *never* use the Mist of Morpheus on you without permission, that would be as egregious a breach in trust as you secretly drugging my tea.” 

“I’m just supposed to believe that you just happen to know *exactly* what you’re doing to relax me?”

“I can see your aura and that helps guide me to help fix it but…”

“And how is that not using magic?”

“I can’t help seeing your aura any more than you can help reading my emotions by looking at my expression.” Stephen said defensively. “However fixing someone’s aura is not magic, anyone can do it.” 

“Fix my aura?” Tony rolled his eyes. “It sounds like magic or at the very least ‘New Age’.” 

“May I?” Stephen asked sitting up and holding up his hand with his thumb extended. “Not a true spell, I just want to show you what I see.”

“Sure.” Tony sighed. “Why not?”

“You won’t regret it.”

Stephen touched this thumb against Tony’s forehead briefly. From Tony’s perspective it caused his own skin to suddenly softly glow in a golden haze that shifted and swayed like seaweed beneath the tide. Holding up his hand he studied the beautiful aura noting how it was brighter and smoother in some areas and darker and more turbulent in others. 

“That is trippy.” Tony admitted. 

“Everyone has an aura.” Stephen said as he reached out and brushed Tony’s forearm causing the glow to brighten and dance. “It can be effected by your emotions, or by the touch of others for good or for bad. This energy envelops every living creature you just need to open your third eye a bit to see it.”

“Why can’t I see yours right now?”

“Because I actively shield it. It’s a drain on me, but if I let my guard down on that spell any enemy skilled in magic would be able to see it and know exactly where to strike me. A portion of my energy is constantly devoted to hiding it.”

“Constantly? Even here in the Sanctum?”

“Some of my most devastating attacks have happened while I’m sleeping or otherwise out of my body right here in this room.” Stephen reached up and self consciously traced part of the ‘X’ scar vengefully carved into his face by Silver Dagger. “It’s just habit now to hide it.”

“Can you show me or is that too dangerous?”

Stephen hesitated having not lowered that particular spell in decades. He looked around to assure himself that they were alone before closing his eyes and concentrating on relaxing the spell. Tony’s breath caught in his throat as Stephen’s skin lit up with a myriad of gently shifting colors. Stephen’s aura was far more intricate and covered his skin with a beautiful array of patterns. His left temple, throat, upper arms and down the right side of his chest all glittered a warmer color than the rest. Most of his scars including the one he wore across his face and the design branded into his chest had a deep royal violet hue over a cold blue background that was both beautiful and somehow ominous. Keenly aware of how his aura highlighted the marks Stephen glanced down at the purple and blue stain on his chest.

“Injuries caused by malevolent magic leave scars in the aura.” Stephen explained. “Every color has a meaning, the blue betrays areas of weakness.”

“What do the brighter yellow areas mean?”

“The amber marks the areas I prefer to be touched by you.” Stephen replied with a wink. 

“Seriously?”

“Touch one.” Stephen offered. 

Tony eyed the Sorcerer suspiciously for a moment before putting his hand on the honey colored glow that covered the right side of Stephen’s chest away from the dark purple over blue that highlighted the other side. The first time Tony had touched that particular scar Stephen had noticeably flinched, assuming it was painful Tony had since made note not to touch it. The other side it seemed was fair game as the light amber brightened into a spectacular molten gold effect under his palm. 

“I don’t think there’s any denying that that’s a sign of a positive reaction.” Stephen chuckled. 

“So *this* is how you are so good.” Tony accused teasingly as he looked down at his own aura and confirmed that the amber areas were the placed he enjoyed contact the most, also noting that his own skin was mostly gold when compared to Stephen’s more technicolor appearance. “You cheat.”

“I use the resources available to me.” Stephen corrected. 

“Why is just your left temple bright like that?”

“Because you’re right handed.” Stephen smiled. 

“What?”

“Auras are not static, they change depending on your mood and who you are with. You like to run your right hand through my hair at that spot and it hasn’t taken long for me to associate that touch with you and in turn to want it more.”

Tony smiled as he reached out and slipped his hand into Stephen's hair turning the silver streak gold as the aura intensified in color at being touched. Closing his eyes in contentment Stephen brought his hand up to place it over Tony’s only to reveal an angry rose tint to his scarred hand that moved and swirled more violently than the soft shifting of the rest of his aura.

“Your hand…” Tony noted concerned.

“The red is…pain.” Stephen admitted. “There’s very little I can do about it myself.”

Stephen demonstrated by brushing the back of his own shaking hand with the fingertips of the other. The soft ruby colored shimmer barely shifted beneath his touch as his fingers passed right through the eddies and swirls without changing them. 

“A person’s own energy can’t effect itself very well.” Stephen held his hand out with a warm smile. “However, if you try.”

Tony gently ran his hand across the back of Stephen’s hand along the line of the scarred tendon and down his ring finger where the eddies seemed to be most turbulent. The transparent ruby color shifted under his touch to a pale amber and the eddies swirled out and settled into a calmer flow. Repeating the soothing touch the glow deepened the amber color further and spread it out across Stephen’s hand. It didn’t become the bright gold that had lit up Stephen’s temple and chest but the change was still dramatic. Wanting to see the molten gold effect again Tony reached up and traced his hand over the muscle that connected Stephen’s clavicle to the back of his jaw line. Had he asked him Stephen would have informed him that the muscle was known as the sternocleidomastoid, but he didn’t ask he just stared at the way the skin over it glowed warmly. Glancing down Tony knit his brow as he noticed Stephen’s hand had returned to his pink/red hue already.

“Why doesn’t your hand stay yellow?”

“Although powerful there are limits to touch. I doubt my hands will ever stay gold for very long, however before I met you the aura around my hands was so red that it looked like I had dipped them in blood. Nothing has stolen my pain better than you have.”

“Can’t use magic to stop it?”

“Pain is complicated, it can’t be managed by magic without a devastating cost. It has physical aspects but it also has just as many psychological and metaphysical ones. If someone in pain can simply be made to feel safe it has a dramatic effect on reducing their perception of it. The touch of a trusted hand, the word of a confident medical professional, even just a warm blanket. None of that takes away the injury, but it can reduce the pain and calm the aura.”

“Why haven’t you shown me this before? This could have helped me know exactly how to touch you.”

“I never showed you because you never needed the help. Your instincts are better than any magic I could ever teach you…”


End file.
